Conference championship is just a few days away. The New England Patriots will travel to Mile High to face the Denver Broncos for the Lamar Hunt trophy for the AFC Championship, while the George Halas trophy of the NFC Championship will be played at Lumen Field between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks. Who will advance to Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA? The probability indicates we are going to get Super Bowl rematch. But from what year/super bowl? Here’s my prediction.
Super Bowl Rematch Possibilities
Patriots-Seahawks (Super Bowl XLIX)
Patriots-Rams (Super Bowl XXXVIII, Super Bowl LIII)
Broncos-Seahawks (Super Bowl XLVIII)
Divisional Round Pick: 3-1
Wild Card Round Picks: 5-1
Conference Championship Round Matchups & Predictions
New England Patriots @ Denver Broncos, 3:00 PM EST
Analysis: I know a lot of people aren’t writing off the Broncos just yet with Sean Payton at the helm but it’s near impossible to envision Jarrett Stidham beating the New England defense. The Patriots are going to take away Denver’s ability to run the ball and the end of the game is going to fall on Stidham’s shoulders. As much as we would love to see a backup quarterback beat his former team, the chances in this case seem slim to none. (-4.5) is a generous line. The Patriots win this game by two scores.
X-Factor: Patriots secondary
Pick: Patriots win 21-9
Los Angeles Rams @ Seattle Seahawks, 6:30 PM EST
Analysis: I think everyone in the NFL world knew we would get a Round 3 between these two teams. Considering Week 11 came down to 2 points and Week 16 came down to 1 pt, it’s probably safe to assume that this game will come down to the wire as well.
The Rams have been the better team for about 6 of 8 quarters in the first two meetings. They can take some refuge in knowing that they were blowing out the Seahawks in Seattle until they allowed a punt return to get the Seahawks back in the game.
Even though the game is played on the field, I think a lot of this game comes down to the coaches and how well they are able to adjust in their play calls. McVay actually dominated Macdonald in Week 16 as the Rams offense scored 37 points and ran 88 total plays for 581 total yards. Stafford threw for 457 yards and 3 touchdowns and looked unstoppable with Puka Nacua. The Rams won’t produce that type of offensive firepower in the NFC Championship Game but it can hope to land somewhere between its Week 11 and 16 performances.
I think the magic number here is 24 pts. Whichever defense can keep their opponent under that will win.
X-Factor: Sean McVay vs. Mike Macdonald
Pick: Rams win 24-23
Patriots-Rams for a third time. Why not? It seems fitting that Drake Maye and Matthew Stafford would get to duke it out on the biggest stage after being the MVP frontrunners.
